


What do I know

by Ivealwayswantedtousethatspell



Series: Songs of Life: Severitus Tales [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But They Still Give Harry the Information That He Needs, Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter Friendship, Elemental Magic, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Good Slytherins, Harry Potter Has a Family, Harry Potter Has a Pet Snake, Harry Potter Has a Saving People Thing, Harry Potter is Lord Potter, Hogwarts Fifth Year, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Magically Powerful Harry Potter, Minor Original Character(s), Non-Canon Relationship, Not All the Adults are Useless, Not Canon Compliant, Sentient Hogwarts, Severitus | Severus Snape is Harry Potter's Parent, Severus Snape Adopts Harry Potter, Severus Snape Has a Heart, They Actually Do Stuff, Volemort Is Back
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:48:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28071207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivealwayswantedtousethatspell/pseuds/Ivealwayswantedtousethatspell
Summary: It's the summer before Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts. Voldemort is back, Dumbledore (spoilers) is dead and Harry, with the help of his family, have to work out how they are going to win this war while protecting their loved ones.This is the fourth part of Songs of Life: Severitus Tales, I doubt this will make sense without reading the first three works.The song this work (and chapter titles) is named for is ‘What do I know’ by Ed Sheeran because why not.Obviously if you recognise it, it doesn't belong me to me but to JK Rowling (unless stated otherwise).
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger, Fleur Delacour/Bill Weasley (minor), Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood, Percy Weasley/OC (minor), Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks (minor)
Series: Songs of Life: Severitus Tales [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764184
Comments: 33
Kudos: 34





	1. Set the scene

A few days into the holidays, Harry Potter visited the newest shop in Diagon Alley with his Dogfather.

There wasn’t too much danger yet, so it was just the two of them; Riddle had to find recruits before he could make any plans, so the adults were working on increasing security around Azkaban to prevent a breakout, although Fudge was fighting it, still in denial about the most dangerous wizard of the century being back, despite there being so many witnesses.

It had been just over a month since Riddle had returned, so everyone was on edge, waiting for everything to kick off, but nothing had happened yet.

Minerva had been grateful for the stubbornly given Triwizard winnings and had immediately begun working with the goblins to get the best wards possible which were set to be erected in a few days’ time. This included filling any gaps and strengthening the wards, plus anti-Polyjuice, and - something newly developed by the goblins - anti-Dark Mark wards.

Pushing aside the thought that the Ministry should probably have these wards, because Fudge would never agree, Harry stayed close to Sirius, peering through shop windows as they walked until they reached the shop they were looking for.

It wasn’t huge, but it was clean and bright, with whitewashed walls and large windows. The sign above the door was a deep blue with white writing and had a broomstick hovering about it, zipping from one word to the other and back again.

Harry read the words,

‘Flying Marauders’

Then in smaller writing below,

‘Custom Flying Equipment for All Occasions’

Stepping through the door that still had the closed sign across it with Sirius just behind him, Harry gave a proper smile for the first time in over a month.

The walls of the shop were a sky blue with fluffy clouds charmed to float across them and the floor was the fake grass that professional quidditch pitches were made of, perfect for getting a feel for a broom.

Sleek clear shelving was fitting to the walls and filled with products that were all labelled as hand charmed and hand packaged and white podiums were spaced out on the small shop floor, each displaying one of their broom or hoverboard models, plus a small trial space and till setup towards the back of the shop.

“What do you think?” the voice came from Dani, who was grinning at them from the till.

“It looks incredible! Is everything set for the open tomorrow?”

“Yup. The brooms and hoverboards will be made to order, so we only had to stock up on the base materials which are in the workshop and we’ve made a lot of the other products. We’ll create a manufacturing system when we find out how many of which are going to sell.”

Harry nodded, looking at the different products on the shelves.

“I still can’t believe you named it after us.” Sirius spoke up and Harry started, having forgotten that he was here.

“Sorry, Dani, this is my Godfather and Regent, Sirius Black. Siri, this is Dani.”

“Lord Black, of course, Harry has mentioned you many times, he never mentioned that you were one of the Marauders though?”

Harry began to laugh, “Sorry Dani, must have slipped my mind. Although, if I had a pensive, I would show you the memory of my telling him you were naming a broom line after him, I thought he was going to accidentally fall out of a window or run off into the lake or something.”

“Well, it’s not every day you get a broom named after you, is it?” he grinned, “And please, call me Sirius.”

“Sirius, of course. You’re right, I don’t know that there’s anyone else who has a broom line named after them, other than obviously Prongs and Moony. Which reminds me, you told me that Prongs was your dad, and if Sirius is Padfoot then who is Moony?”

Harry smirked, “Professor Lupin.”

Dani looked at him in shock, “Really?”

“Yup. I would have brought him today, but he was busy; he said he’ll come when I get my school stuff near the end of the holidays.”

“Hey guys.” Yasmin appeared down the stairs from the flat where the pair were living above the shop.

“Hi Yasmin,” he moved forwards to give her a hug, “How are you doing?” he hadn’t seen her since Cassius’ memorial and he knew that she had been struggling.

“Better, thanks.” She gave him a tired smile, “We’ve been working hard for the opening. It’ll be a relief to get it going so there are less worries about if everything will work.”

“I’m confident about this, you guys have done an amazing job with putting it together.” Harry told her, “There was something I wanted to ask you about though, the wards. I could feel some as I came through the door, but I was wondering if the security is high enough in here.”

“I think we’re okay. We have wards around the shop but also around the different displays, so if anyone touches anything we will know.”

“Do the wards do anything besides alerting you?”

Dani shook her head, “I’m guessing you want them to do more?”

Nodding, Harry began to explain a few of the wards he had found, in an effort to make the shop safer for his friends and for their stock.

The next evening, Harry received an exited letter from Yasmin. Their first day had been a huge success!

* * *

A day or so after the opening of Harry’s first business endeavour, Severus knocked on his door, saying that he needed to talk to him.

Harry poured himself a tea then sat on the sofa next to his dad, pulling a face as a waft of the ridiculously strong coffee his dad was drinking moved towards him.

“Dad? Is everything okay?”

“I need to talk to you about something important, something that you should probably have been told a long while ago.”

“Okay…?”

“Albus said that you asked him after the incident with Quirrell why Riddle went after your family fourteen years ago, but that he never told you the answer.”

Harry nodded, waiting for him to continue.

“Well, I want to answer that question. It wasn’t your parents he went after; he went after you. There was a prophecy made that he found out some of, and it made him see you as a threat, so he went to get rid of you.”

Looking up in shock, Harry asked, “You can have a real prophecy?”

Severus almost laughed at the fact that Harry was more surprised at the idea that Divination wasn’t a farce than he was that there was something unusually happening to him, again.”

“Yes. They are automatically recorded in the Hall of Prophecy deep in the Department of Mysteries. This one was spoken by Sybil Trelawney to Ablus Dumbledore during a job interview only a week or so after you were born. I heard half of the prophecy and I - I was loyal to Riddle at the time, so I took it to him. When I heard who he thought it was talking about, I panicked. I might not have talked to Lily since our fifth year, but I still cared about her, and you by extension.”

Pausing for a moment, Severus squeezed his eyes shut. Harry waited patiently, slightly horrified by the direction this conversation was going.

“Riddle didn’t understand love – he saw it as weak, especially the idea of being in love with a muggleborn - but he understood lust, and I managed to convince him that I lusted after Lily, in an attempt to save her life. But I couldn’t get him to leave you or your father.”

“Did you love her?”

“Like a sister.” Severus nodded, “She was the only person who had ever cared about he, besides my mother, and I pushed her away, I have never forgiven myself for not apologising to her.”

“Is that why you agreed to look after me? To make up for past mistakes, regrets, to make yourself feel better?”

Severus’ eyes flicked up from where they had been resting on his leg to stare into Harry’s eyes. He put a hand on his shoulder.

“No. I’ll admit that some of my actions during your first year here served that purpose. But I agreed to look after you because I was the best option to keep you safe. My father didn’t treat me right and I would never wish that on any child, not matter that I think of them. I adopted you because I grew to care for you and I now view you as my son; you being Lily’s child is an added bonus as far as I am concerned.”

Harry checked his dad’s expression for any sign of a lie before nodding and resting his head on Severus’ shoulder. It had been nearly four years since he had left the Dursleys and there was still a voice in the back of his head that told him every so often that no body loved him.

“So what did you do? When Riddle only agreed to save my mum?”

“He agreed that he would give Lily the chance of living, and that was as good as I was going to get, but I knew that wasn’t enough to save her. She was fiercely loyal, there was no way she was just going to let him take or murder you. So I went to Dumbledore, I became a spy, giving him all the information I had while he did all he could to protect everyone. Dumbledore suggested the Fidelius charm, but they used Pettigrew instead of Sirius without telling him.”

Harry almost smiled at Severus’ use of his godfather’s name - not all of the changes that the past year had brough were bad. There had been a long time where he didn’t think that those two would be anything beyond barely civil.

“Your parents were in hiding for just over a year when he finally came for them, and you know the rest.”

“He did actually do what you asked, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“Riddle did ask Mum to stand aside, he told her that she could live if she let him have me, but she refused.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve had dreams about it.” Harry replied softly and his dad brought him down for a hug.

“Then that’s all the evidence you need that your mum loved you very much, she would do anything for you.” He whispered in his ear.

They sat in silence for a while until Harry asked, “So, I guess the important thing is what did the prophecy say that made Riddle come after me?”

“Only Dumbledore knew the full prophecy. I only heard half and the Seer who gives a prophecy doesn’t remember it. The only way we can find out is by going to the Hall of Prophecy, which is what I planned for us to do today, if you’re up for it?”

“I’m only going to worry if we don’t go.”

Head Unspeakable Croaker led Harry and Severus deep into the Department of Mysteries until they came to the Hall of Prophecy. They passed many weird and wonderful things on their journey and Harry was pretty sure that he could name a few people who could easily get lost in the research that this place made possible.

The Hall of Prophecy itself was huge, with a high ceiling and row upon row of rickety shelves that reached up into the roof above their heads and melted far into the dark that was evidence to the lack of light.

Hurrying, the pair followed behind Croaker, who seemed to be looking for a certain isle. Finding it, he led them down, past nearly one hundred rows until they got to ninety-seven, then down into the darkness that turned to dimly lit gloom as they moved.

Light seemed to be following them, allowing them to read the names of each of the glass balls that took up space on each and every shelf.

Eventually they found the one they were looking for.

_‘SPT to APWBD  
Tom Marvolo Riddle and (?) Harry Potter’_

“Only the one who the prophecy is about, can read it.” Croaker motioned for him to pick it up.

It was covered it dust and obviously hadn’t been touched in the fourteen years it had been down here, but it began to rattle and with an eery blue light as Harry put his hand near it. His skin connected with the cold glass and light erupted from it as a figure rose within.

Sybil Trelawny dressed in her usual shawl and with the same large eyes but a good ten or fifteen years younger than she way now.

In a harsh voice that was unlike the one he had heard her use before, the Seer spoke.

_Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...  
And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...  
And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ...  
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord._

The figure disappeared back into the mist that was circling the sphere and Harry looked up, stunned while Severus looked confused and Croaker a little more amused.

“You hear it alright?”

“Yes, thank you. Could you not?”

“Only the one touching the prophecy can hear it.” The Unspeakable explained.

“Oh.” Harry fished some parchment and a biro (good for emergencies) out of his pocket and touched his hand to the ball again, writing down what he heard. It took him a few runs through to get everything, but when he had, he tucked everything back into his pocket and turned to the Unspeakable.

“Mr Croaker? Is there any way of destroying this prophecy?”

“Aye, it’s glass, it would be irreparable if it were dropped. No repairing spells can repair a prophecy, even if the glass were intact.”

“And what you happen if it was destroyed? Would there be any repercussions? Would you have to make note that it had been destroyed?”

“Well, it was just be a tragic accident, wouldn’t it? It was no one’s fault, so I don’t need to write it up.” Harry could tell the man was grinning, despite the cloak hiding half of his face.

With a look to his Dad to see if he approved of the plan as much as Croaker did, Harry let the prophecy fall, where it hit the ground and shattered, sounding awfully loud in the inconceivable size of the room.

Half an hour later found the pair in the Headmistresses office with Minerva, Remus, and Sirius, explaining the contents of the prophecy.

Minerva explained the suspicions that Dumbledore had shared with her about the prophecy in previous years, about how it could have been either Harry or Neville, but that Riddle had chosen Harry by trying and failing to kill him, instead marking him as his equal by accident.

It wasn’t until he was sipping his tea in the safety of Hogwarts that Harry really understood what the prophecy was saying.

Riddle was going to keep coming after him until one of them was dead and that put everyone near or related to him at risk.

“Do you know what this ‘power the Dark Lord knows not’ is?”

Minerva signed, “I have no clue, if Albus knew or had any suspicions then he never said.”

The other three shook their heads in agreement.

Remus spoke up, “Maybe there is something that you can do, that he can’t?”

There was silence until Harry shook his head, “There might be, but I can’t think straight right now.”

Severus and Minerva shared a glance, “But there is one more thing we wanted to talk to you about.”

Harry looked at his dad, dread pooling in his stomach, “What is it?”

The Potions Master took a steadying breath before explained the basics of Horcruxes to him while he listened in horror.

“Someone would actually do that to themselves?”

“Riddle would. Multiple times it appears.”

“Multiple times?!” Harry felt sick.

“Yes.” Signed Minerva, “We don’t know how many yet, or what the objects were, but we know that at least one of them is destroyed, the diary.”

“Without these destroyed, Riddle can’t be killed, but how do you find them?”

“Albus has spent the last two years researching them, and I know he hadn’t found any, but I do have his notes, so they should be a good place to start.”

Harry nodded, “Who’s doing that?”

“The notes are keyed into me, so I will be reading them, but I think we’ve agreed to share duties. Albus started a vigilante organisation to fight against Riddle last war, called the Order of the Phoenix and I thought I would start that again to give us a place to work from.” Minerva started.

“And no Harry, before you ask, you will not be allowed to join.” Severus interrupted sharply, “It’s for of-age people only. It’s dangerous.”

Harry scowled, “But you will tell me what’s going on, won’t you?”

The four exchanged glances and Harry rolled his eyes, “You don’t think that I maybe need to know what’s going on? I know what you’re doing, it’s exactly what Dumbledore did, trying to protect me by only telling me what I ‘need to know’, but you’re actually just putting me in more danger. I’m an impulsive person, I know this and no matter how much I say I’ll try to stop and think, I can’t guarantee that I will if the time comes. If I don’t know all the facts and I can’t find one of you for whatever reason, I might make the wrong decision and that might cost lives.”

Severus considered him for a moment with angry eyes before sighing and raising a questioning eyebrow at Minerva, who shrugged elegantly.

“You are his guardian, Severus, but I have to say that I agree he is impulsive and will make stupid decisions without the facts.”

“Of course, he might still make stupid decisions with the facts, I would prefer he found me.” Severus growled.

“I think I should be insulted by that.” Harry crossed his arms, feeling every inch the teenager that he was, “I remember saying impulsive rather than stupid, but okay.”

Rolling his eyes, Severus nodded slowly, “Fine. You will get the information in exchange for your word that you won’t try and fix problems or make plans yourself. You have people looking out for you now, you don’t have to do everything yourself.”

Nodding sharply, Harry agreed, “I promise.”

There was a pause then he tentatively asked, “Can I tell the others?”

Severus sighed, “We can’t make a blanket promise, Harry, we’ll take each thing as it comes. I understand the need to not leave them in the dark, and I even understand that they can help, I’m not ignorant to their intelligence or perception, but the kind of information we are talking about could be dangerous for them to know, Occlumency shields or not. You ask us before telling them anything.”

Knowing this was as good an answer as he was going to get, Harry nodded, “I can respect that. Can I tell them about the prophecy? The Horcruxes?”

Cautiously – after a shared look with Minerva - Severus agreed, “They are important pieces of information. But I will be testing their Occlumency shields to check they can protect the information first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone wants to go back and look at some of the products that I have invented for Flying Marauders, then the chapter they are explained in Chapter 4 of Wolves, the 3rd work in the series.  
> Prongs Racing Brooms, Padfoot Beginners Brooms and Moony Traveling Brooms are all lines of brooms, which can be customised in their own rights, but the quidditch brooms are all custom made to order, in case anyone was wondering or confused.  
> Sorry that you don’t get to see scene where Harry tells Sirius and Remus about the quidditch shop being named after them, but there was no way I could make it a surprise, as Sirius is still managing Harry’s money, as his Regent and if I didn’t have it in this chapter then it would have happened last summer. I obviously can’t go back and add that now, so you’re stuck with using your imagination, I guess! Sorry.  
> Also, I changed Severus’ back story just a little because obsession is creepy guys! We don’t name our children after people who had a creepy obsession with one of our parents here!


	2. Set the scene [P2]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Look, I’m uploading on time for once!  
> It’s the holidays now, so I have more time to write, whether that means I’m going to write more or not is as of yet undecided :D you’ll still get the weekly upload same as normal but you may get some bonus chapters or I might finally upload for my other fic, Hogwarts’ Youngest Headmaster, who knows?!  
> TW for mentions of eater disorders, well, not eating disorders. I guess it’s self-enforced starvation? Idk I never went to therapy. Either way, it’s just a paragraph but I thought I’d warn.

Harry stormed through the door of Remus’ rooms and began pacing, only growing more agitated when he saw the amused look of his honorary Uncle’s face.

“Are you busy today?” he asked, trying not to snap; Remus’ hadn’t done anything, after all.

“I have a few hours spare this morning, why?”

“I’m supposed to be meeting Hermione in an hour, but Dad won’t let me go without an adult.”

“Why can’t go with you?”

“Because he’s not happy about me going.”

Remus’ eyebrows rose, “And Sirius?”

“I don’t trust him not to curse them.”

“Woah, woah. Curse who? You’d better start from the beginning or I’m not going anywhere.”

With a slight huff, Harry threw himself onto the sofa next to his uncle.

“I was thinking that it’s likely Riddle will go after my relatives - either to try and get information or to make a statement - if he thinks that he can’t get near anyone closer to me than he’s likely to go after someone who he thinks isn’t protected first.”

He took a breath and Remus looked thoughtful.

“So, I got permission from Minerva to give them an emergency portkey each and Hermione is supposed to be going with me to visit them today, but Severus doesn’t want me to go because he doesn’t think they deserve to escape from Riddle, but he doesn’t seem to understand that it’s on my conscience if I do nothing.”

Standing up, he began to pace again.

“If they get attacked and I didn’t do anything, then it’s my fault. I know how my brain works, better than most people do anyway, and I will blame myself if I don’t do anything.”

“What if they don’t want them? Will you blame yourself then?”

“I don’t think so. I’m giving them the option; they can choose whether to let me into the house and they can choose whether or not to wear the portkeys or even whether or not they are going to use them if the time comes. If they choose hate and possible death, then that is their fault. I am making this decision but the final one is theirs.”

Remus thought for a moment, watching his pseudo-nephew tracking the same line across his living room like a caged lion, then he asked quietly.

“My main concern is that I’m not sure you can face your uncle right now. From what you’ve told me, your aunt and even your cousin will be within your mental capabilities, but can you face your uncle after what he did to you, when you’re already so stressed trying to save everyone else? I don’t want you to run yourself into the ground before this has even begun, we have no idea how long this war is going to last.”

Pausing in his pacing, Harry faced Remus.

“My Uncle isn’t going to be there; he’ll be at work and, chances are, Dudley will be out with friends. It will just be my aunt, which is good because I want to talk to her without her husband breathing over her shoulder or Dudley there to report to his father.”

“You do know it was Petunia’s choice to act as she did, don’t you?” Remus asked quietly, moving to put his hands on Harry’s upper arms, “Her husband didn’t force her to do anything.”

“I know.” Harry put his head on Remus’ shoulder wearily, “And the chance of us having a proper aunt/nephew relationship has gone, but I think we might be able to come sort of agreement. And,” he lifted his head to look seriously into the eyes in front of his, “Hermione will be there and knows me well enough to pull me away if it’s clearly not happening.”

“Thank Merlin for that girl.” Remus sighed.

“What else are sister’s for?” he smiled gently, “So, will you come with me?”

“Have you already got the portkeys?”

“I picked them up last night.” He nodded, patting the magically enlarged pocket of his jeans.

“Then let me just go and get changed into something more muggle.”

Harry nodded, he was trying to look as ‘normal’ as possible in an effort to not make this any harder than it had to be; black trainers, dark wash jeans (with no rips, because his aunt would definitely sneer at that) and a simple white t-shirt with a dragon on the back that wouldn’t look too out of place in the muggle world.

Around his neck was the snitch necklace – which he still carried on the off chance he would be somewhere that didn’t have anti-portkey wards when he was in trouble and as a reminder of his dad – and in his pocket were a pair of sunglasses to combat the sun that may or may not be out when they got outside.

After all, there was no way of knowing if it was going to be sunny in Surrey before they got there.

Elpis was sleeping in her vivarium; it was not a good idea to take a magical snake to his muggle relatives house.

While he waited for his uncle, Harry made sure that his invisible wand holster was sitting securely on his forearm. Trace or no trace, he needed to be prepared – better to be safe than sorry.

Remus appeared a few minutes later in a long sleaved but open necked shirt and trousers, both looking fresh and new, a result of a steady job of three years.

With a nod, the pair made their way through Hogwarts so they could apparate first to the Grangers, then the three of them to Little Whinging.

After a quick look around, Remus gave a reassuring smile then disillusioned himself and took a up position next to a tree where he could see the length of the street.

Hermione slipped her hand around Harry’s elbow and held it there, squeezing gently in silent support as they walked the length of the street to number four.

At the bottom of the drive, Harry stopped and looked up at the house that he had lived in for twelve years of his life.

It was looking the shabbiest he had ever seen it, with weeds poking up through the uneven, yellowing grass and slightly chipping paint on the fence.

Walking up the path, Harry saw that there were also smudges and specks of dirt on the windows; it wasn’t by any means dilapidated, but he knew (however much he wished he didn’t) what his uncle’s reaction would have been if he had let the house get in this state.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Harry forced himself to relax then rang the doorbell, shooting Hermione a smile in the effort to assure her that he was fine as they listened to the sound of footsteps approaching the other side of the door.

She was not convinced.

The door opened and the bony figure of Petunia Dursley appeared, wearing a blouse and skirt that were looking rather more dishevelled than Harry was used to seeing on his aunt.

“Harry?!”

Harry echoed the surprise in his aunt’s voice, having never heard her address him with his actual name other than when forced to due to the presence of another adult, (which meant that Hermione didn’t count).

“Aunt Petunia,” he nodded in greeting, carefully keeping his voice neutral as his wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans, “May we come in?”

Nodding silently, she opened the door wider then waited for them to step in before closing it and ushering them through to living room. Harry purposefully didn’t look at the cupboard under the stairs, although he did see Hermione glare at it out of the corner of his eye.

As he walked into the front room, he noticed that it had the same ‘not been cleaned in a while’ look, with dust on the mantel piece and crumbs on the floor. Tucked behind a sofa were an empty cheap (or as cheap as it gets) whiskey bottle and half a dozen empty beer bottles.

He noticed that none of the pictures of the walls had been changed, which was odd, because his aunt usually changed a least a few of them each year.

“Is anyone else home?”

Shaking her head, Petunia replied, “Dudley and Vernon are both at work. They won’t be home until at least four.”

“Dudley at work?” Harry asked, surprised.

Petunia looked him in the eye, “At lot has changed since you left.”

“Really? How so?”

Instead of answering, his aunt flicked her gaze to Hermione, who had so far remained silent.

Harry was related, he was allowed to hear the mess that the Dursley’s had got themselves into because he had _been_ the mess of the Dursley family for twelve years, but Hermione was a stranger, so image was to be maintained.

“This is my sister, Hermione Granger.”

So used to introducing Hermione like this, he didn’t think he was speaking to until she gasped.

“Not by blood.” He assured her quickly, “My mother didn’t have another child you don’t know about. She’s my adopted sister.”

“You’ve been adopted?” the question was asked neutrally, but Harry could tell she was curious.

“No, I mean, yes, but not by Hermione’s parents. I’m Heir to the Potter Lordship, so I adopted her into the Potter family to give her some added political protection, which means her official title is Sister Potter. It’s a bit confusing, but I just think of her as my sister from different parents.”

“But you have a family now?”

“I do. I have a father, a Godfather, pseudo-uncle, sister, girlfriend, plus a few distant cousins, someone who is sort of the grandmother of the group and a good few friends.”

Hermione sorted, “Wait until I tell Professor McGonagall you described her as your ‘sort of grandmother’.”

“Professor McGonagall is still there?”

“She is, do you know her?”

“She was the one who can to officially Lily that she was one of you.”

“Officially? Did she already know then?” Hermione asked, hesitantly.

“Yes, that Snape boy told her.”

“Funny you should mention Severus. Guess who is now a professor at our school and adopted me?”

Petunia stared at him for a full minute then shook herself, “He’s probably a better family than we ever were.”

“I won’t dispute you there.” Harry shrugged, “Now, are you going to say what’s being going on since I left, so I can tell you why I’m here and then get out your hair. Hermione already knows what it was like for me here, so I doubt that whatever you say will make her dislike you more.”

After pausing she a moment, Petunia nodded, “Vernon spent the first few months after you went back to that school talking about what he was going to d-do to you when you got back the next summer.” She shook her head, “It was vile, how much joy he got out of his plans; I was only glad that Dudley wasn’t home to see it.”

Hermione’s hand tightened around Harry’s arm as memories of shrieks of pain echoes in his ears and he trembled just a little.

“But then we lost guardianship of you and he hit the drink hard. By the end of January, he had been fired and then he drank and gambled his way through all of our savings. He’s had many different jobs, no lasting more than a month. I had to find a job, I work nights at Tesco,” she grimaced slightly, Harry knew from times of old just what she thought of Tesco, “and we had to pull Dudley out of Smeltings.”

Stopping for breath, she sighed slightly, “He didn’t take to Stonewall high very well. About as well as you did to primary school.” Harry winced, “His self-worth plummeted, as did his eating habits. He went from three big meals a day plus snacks of the unhealthiest variety to one small meal a day. It’s surprising how quickly you can lose weight by only just eating enough to not pass out, however grumpy it makes you. The two of us - Vernon was too drunk - decided to move him to another public school for his GCSE’s so he could make a new start being his new self. I’ve tried to get him into counselling, but I just don’t have the money.”

She looked distraught at not being able to provide for her son, “He’s so much better than he was -healthier mentally and physically - but he still has a little way to go yet. He got a summer job to help me and to get his father off my back for more money, he actually looks out for me.”

Everything had come pouring out in a rush, clearly, she hadn’t been able to talk about this with anyone.

“I’m glad that Dud is better, I’m sorry that you still have put up with Uncle Vernon.”

A shadow of fear crossed her face before it was replaced with regret, “No, I’m sorry. Dudley and I have each other, but you didn’t have anyone; three against one. I don’t know what I was thinking; that I was so blinded with jealousy that I treated my own nephew in that way, that I allowed my husband and son to do the same. I don’t expect your forgiveness, but I would like you to know that _I_ know what I did was wrong. I always did really, but now I have admitted it to myself. Harry, I’m sorry.”

Harry stared into the tear-filled eyes and saw the genuine regret there. He had seen his aunt with a lot of different emotions on her face, but regret was not one of them.

“I do forgive you.” Petunia gasped, “I can’t say that I trust you, and I won’t forget, but I can forgive. Neither you nor I can change the past, but we can move on.”

“I don’t deserve that.”

“I think not, but Harry is nothing if not kind and generous, he doesn’t like other people to suffer and he will find any reason to blame himself instead of the people who are actually responsible. But,” Hermione’s eyes glinted dangerously, “Don’t think that me, or any of Harry’s family, would hesitate to throw you in prison – after hexing you several times - if the situation calls for it. Don’t trespass on his generosity.”

Harry squeezed her hand - partly in thanks, partly to calm her down – and gave a small nod.

“Aunt Petunia? There was a reason I came today beyond being nosy about your troubles.” Her eyes snapped back from Hermione to him, “The wizard who killed my parents is back.”

There was a horrified gasp, “But didn’t he cause a war?!”

“Yes, and we are expecting another. It is well known in the wizarding world that I am no longer in your care, it is known who my father and it is know the abuse I suffered in this house because the story got leaked to a newspaper last Christmas. But I’m considered _important_ ,” he grimaced, “In the wizarding world and there is still a chance that Riddle – that is the evil wizard – will come after you to make a point to me. If he finds you, he will torture and kill you and I would rather that didn’t happen.”

Another gasp, “But Lily couldn’t hide, how can we?”

“The simple solution is you won’t. I have a magical device that will transport you to my school, where I live all year around, if you get attacked. It is called a portkey and is activated by a password as long as it is touching your skin.”

“Did Lily have one of these?”

“She did.”

“Then why didn’t she use it to escape?”

“Because the Death Eaters – that is Riddle’s minions – can put up shield to stop them from working, but they won’t do that if they attack you because they won’t expect you to have one. You have much the same reaction to non-magicals as you have to stray dogs.”

Petunia nodded, grimacing slightly, “So we make sure the object is touching our skin and say a special word and we will be safe?”

“That’s right. From Hogwarts I will arrange for you a new place to live until the war is over, probably in another country, with better protection. I thought that you would prefer to stay here if you could.”

Reaching into his pocket, Harry pulled out three watch boxes, a bracelet box, and a necklace box.

Petunia gasped softly, “How did they all fit in there?”

Harry looked up at her, raising an eyebrow, “Please don’t make me say it.”

“Magic?”

Surprised that she had uttered the word, he nodded, “Exactly.”

Opening the three watch boxes, he revealed two thick, masculine watches and a more delicate, feminine watch, all in silver of high quality.

“These are the objects? The port things?”

“Portkeys, yes. Just normal watches, nothing magic about them other than being able to transport you from here to Hogwarts. I thought you would appreciate something that wouldn’t look odd for you to wear every day.”

Putting the lids back on the watch boxes, he slid handed them to his aunt then held up the last two boxes.

“These are a more subtle option in case Uncle Vernon won’t let you wear the watch after you explained what it is.”

He took of the lid to reveal a silver necklace with a love heart pendant that held the initials LE.

“This was Lily’s.” Petunia breathed, reaching out to take it and hold it tightly in her hands.

“It was. It will work the same as the watch. And the final one is for Dudley if you think he can be trusted to not tell his father about it. From what you say, he can be, but it’s ultimately up to you.”

The final box held a simple silver band to go around an ankle.

“I thought that the ankle would be more subtle for him. As long as it’s touching his skin it doesn’t matter.”

“Thank you.” Petunia reached for his arm and squeezed just slightly before letting go and moving away quickly.

“Of course, I’d like as few casualties as possible in this war. Now, the activation password. Obviously, this couldn’t be something that any of you would say in everyday conversation, or you would randomly be pulled away and that would get us in trouble beyond just being annoying, so I went with a word that isn’t used in the magical world but is related to magic. All you have to say is ‘Abracadabra’ and you will be taken to the hospital wing at Hogwarts. If you ask for Headmistress McGonagall, then she will look after you. I wouldn’t mention your relation to me straight away as most people don’t like you very much.”

It was said so matter of factly that Petunia frowned, once again remembering just how much of a mess she had made, then she stopped, fully registering what Harry had said.

“Wait, Headmistress McGonagall? I thought that Dumbledore was the Headmaster of your school?”

“He was.” Harry took a deep breath, “But he was killed just over a month ago when Riddle first came back.”

“Dumbledore is dead?”

Harry paused for just a moment then, “Yes.”

“Then I wish you luck with your war, Harry.” She took a deep breath then stood and the others stood also, “You’re going to need it.”

“Thank you, I don’t disagree with you.” He paused just before the door, remembering the flash of fear he had seen on his aunt’s face when she had talked about her husband, “Don’t forget the activation word and remember that the portkeys could be used for getting away from other people than wizards.”

Nephew’s eyes met and aunt’s and there was a moment of understanding between the two.

“Stay safe.” Petunia whispered after the two retreating figures of the nephew she had never really known despite living with for twelve years and his sister.

“You too.” Harry nodded at her over his shoulder.

He led Hermione along the two-minute walk to the park, having received a signal that Remus would be following behind them, and plopped himself down on one of the swings; the only things that hadn’t yet been broken.

They sat in silence for a moment, gently swinging backwards and forwards until Hermione quietly asked, “Are you alright?”

Nodding slowly, Harry replied, “I think so. I’ve just never seen my aunt like that before, never heard my cousin described as bullied, and yet I believe her, because I can kind of imagine it, in a way.”

“I just don’t see how you can forgive him, Harry. He is the bully, he bullied you, for years!”

“Draco always did remind me of Dudley; a daddy’s boy who was a spoilt and arrogant bully, they both just copied what their fathers did. Draco bullied you, and yet you forgave him, why shouldn’t I forgive my cousin?”

“He hasn’t apologised yet.” Hermione reminded him.

“I know, I know. I’m almost tempted to find him to just to see how he reacts to me, but I’m not going to. The next I see him, if I see him, I’ll know if he really has changed and I’ll make the decision from that.”

“Are you prepared for how you will feel if he hasn’t really changed?”

Harry just hummed, scuffing his feet on the ground.

Hermione paused, opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again while he watched out the corner of his eye.

“What?” he sighed.

She shook her head, “Nothing.”

“We’ve done this before, every time we talk about my relatives, you always go to ask a question then change your mind, so you may as well ask.”

She paused again before asking in a rush, “How did it start?” he looked at her questioningly and she elaborated, “What happened to make your uncle start a-abusing you that summer. You said he never did before.”

Harry sighed, “They always abused me, it just changed that summer, he became way more physical, he’d never lifted a hand to be before. It was my fault really.” Hermione glared at him and he threw his hands up in the air in surrender, “I know, I know, not my fault. I meant that I said something that made him start. Do you remember when I said at the end of that first train journey home that my summer was going to be fine because my relatives didn’t know that we’re not allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts?”

Hermione nodded, confused.

“Well, I forgot about the fact that my aunt would know I wasn’t allowed, because my mum went to Hogwarts too. They didn’t take kindly to me trying to trick them.” Hermione winced, “Then I opened my big mouth and told them that I could cure anything they did to me when my uncle made to hit me. He seemed to take that as a challenge.”

Hermione went first white, then red with an angry light dancing in her eyes, then her head dropped and she let out a breath, “I guess there’s no use getting angry about it now. Thank you for telling me.”

After a few minutes of silence, Harry asked, “Have you thought about your parents?”

“What about them?”

Harry shot her a look, pushing off the ground as he began to swing. She new exactly what he meant; she was just trying to avoid the very important topic.

“About how they aren’t safe while Riddle is around. Even if you weren’t friends with me, they would still be in danger. Don’t act like you haven’t thought about it because we both know you have. I want your parents to be safe too.”

“But what am I supposed to do?!” Hermione threw her hands up in the air then buried her face in them, “It’s not like I can just erase their memories of me and send them to live in Australia!”

Harry stopped swinging, “You’ve actually considered that haven’t you?” he asked quietly, and Hermione nodded, her face still hidden behind her hands.

“Mione,” he crouched next to her swing, “You tell me to stop trying to do stuff by myself, that I have friends and family to help me, and now I am telling you the same thing. You’re my sister, of course I’m going to help you to protect your family.”

She mumbled something and Harry patted her knee, “What was that?”

“How?”

“Well, they need somewhere that they can still get to work, that they are preferably near magicals, so they have help if they need it and that is safe. I can think of a place that fits the bill; your parents got on with Narcissa, didn’t they?”

“You think they should move in Grimmauld Place?”

“Do you not think that’s a good idea?”

“No, I think it’s a brilliant idea. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.” Hermione rubbed her had across her face, embarrassed.

“Because you were too much in the middle of the problem. Come on,” He stood and brushed off his jeans, “We should go and talk to your parents, explain what’s happening.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I really want to have magically enlarged jean pockets like Harry!  
> This chapter wasn’t quite what I was expecting, I thought I was going to have time for other stuff, but clearly not. I know some of you might not love where I’ve taken this, but you might like to know that none of the Dursleys are going to become anything more than minor characters.  
> Also, I can’t spell conscience without putting conscious! Stupid brain.  
> Anyway, quick lesson in British culture of those of you who have never lived here:  
> Tesco is a British supermarket chain that is pretty good quality. It’s not the cheapest (Aldi anyone?) and it’s not the most expensive. It’s not really looked down at to shop at Tesco unless you’re a snob, like Petunia, who 100% shopped at Waitrose (where is everything is overpriced just for the sake of being overpriced. Everyone makes fun of people for shopping at Waitrose cuz they have money to burn and we don’t).  
> And that, my friends, is a lesson in the very basics of British shopping. Of course, there are many more shops than that, but they mostly fall into the three categories ‘knockoff brands’ (Aldi and Lidl), ‘pretty good’ (Tesco and Morrison’s) and ‘overpriced’ (Waitrose and to a lesser extent Sainsbury’s).   
> Other British news, GCSE’s are taken at age 16 and you prepare for them for two years, years 10 and 11. OWLs are the equivalent of GCSE’s and NEWTs are the equivalent of A levels if anyone is still confused.  
> It’s generally not recommended to transfer schools in this time because there is a set curriculum across the country for these exams, but people teach it at different rates, so you may miss stuff out. Plus, it’s stressful guys!


	3. Set the scene [P3]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! This is half fluff and cute birthday presents, half Dursley stuff – I hope that people don’t hate how much the Dursleys are in this at the moment, but they are only going to be in this chapter and the next, then they are gone (no more than mentions) until the last work in the series when they come out of hiding, but they still won’t play a big role.  
> Enjoy!

The summer holidays passed in a flurry of making sure that all Harry’s friends were protected behind formidable wards and helping the Grangers move into Grimmauld Place with Narcissa and Draco.

Hermione’s parents kept ownership of their home at Harry’s eloquent explanation that they would be able to move back in more easily after the war if they kept the property and it would stop any innocent muggles who may have moved in from being brutally murdered as the Death Eaters wouldn’t stop and apologise when they realised that they had the wrong people.

So the family house remained empty and before Harry knew it, it was the end of July and everyone was gathered at the Burrow for a joint celebration for his and Neville’s birthdays.

This was the first time that all eight of them had managed to get together since the beginning of the holidays - although they had met in various combinations throughout the month they had been on holiday – and Harry took the opportunity to ask them to arrive early so he could talk to them about the prophecy.

He got mixed reactions, concern, shock, horror, and even a fair amount of dubitation that prophecies could come true from Hermione.

“Come on Mione, just because Trelawney isn’t very good doesn’t mean Divination as a whole is a farce, the prophecies are only recorded if they are real and besides, it doesn’t matter if we believe it is real or not, Riddle believes it is so he’s going to come after me either way.”

Hermione accepted this after a little hemming and hawing and the reaction was overall supportive for Harry. The overwhelming feeling of unity surprised him; however much he had thought he completely trusted this group of people to always have his back there was still a small part of him that thought they would abandon him.

Luna noticed this and shut it down in true Luna fashion, waist-length hair swishing as she put her hands on her hips and wagged a finger at him.

“We will keep telling you however many times you need to hear it, Harry Potter, we are your friends, of course we will help you. We all want this war to end - even though it hasn’t really started yet - and we are beside you.”

Harry also told them about his visit to his aunt, which got even more mixed reactions.

Ron felt much the same as Severus, not understanding at all, Daphne agreed with Hermione in that she understood why Harry felt as he did but didn’t feel the same and Luna and Ginny both understood and agreed with him, Luna because she was Luna with a deep level on understanding that always seemed impossible and Ginny because she and Harry had talked about it until she understood.

Draco sat awkwardly during the discussion, obviously seeing the same parallels between himself and Dudley Dursley as Harry had.

Noticing how uncomfortable he was, Harry changed the subject and they chatted happily until Harry pulled Ginny away for a little while and they sat where they had sat nearly a year previously - on Ginny’s birthday - by the bank of the bubbling brook a little way from the Burrow but still within its wards.

They lay back in the lush (but now dry enough to get stain them, thanks to Harry) grass, Ginny’s head resting on her boyfriend’s chest.

“Do you know what today is?” he asked after a few minutes of peaceful quiet.

“Your birthday?” Ginny replied, confused.

“Yes, but what did we do for my birthday last year?”

“Urm, we went to Alton Towers?” Suddenly her faced cleared and she sat up, “You asked me to be your girlfriend.”

“Yup. Happy one-year anniversary, Gin.” He pulled a bouquet of white hydrangeas and lavender roses tied with a deep purple ribbon from deep within the extendable pocket of his robes.

“Oh Harry! They’re beautiful, thank you!” she excepted them, “But I didn’t get you anything.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything, I don’t mind. Besides, you got me a birthday present, didn’t you? It can double up, and I’ll love it all more. I’m glad you like them, I got Nev to help me with the flower meanings and the putting to together. The lavender roses are for love at first sight and enchantment while the white hydrangeas are gratitude, boasting and bragging because I’m so lucky to have you.” He wrinkled his nose ever so slightly.

“You don’t really like the meaning of the hydrangeas so you?” Ginny laughed, happily wafting the sweet flower scent towards her nose.

“Not really, no.” Harry shrugged sheepishly, “I mean, I am lucky to have you, but I don’t need to boast because what we have is personal to us, it’s no one else’s business, however boast worthy you are. Then again, they worked with the roses and there are less romantic things out there.”

“Very true.” And she pulled him in for a kiss.

After a moment he pulled back, “I grew them myself.” he wiggled his fingers then gathered his concentration and grew another of the lavender roses, lovingly placing it just behind her ear, “And the ribbon has a stasis charm on so they should last a while.”

“Hmm, my perfectly and amazingly talented boyfriend, always subverting the expectations of the girl being the only one to remember anniversaries.”

He chuckled as she pulled him in for another kiss.

A little while later, Harry broke away and stood, offering Ginny a hand as they made their way back to the party where all the guests were about to arrive.

Severus came, as did Minerva, Sirius, Remus and Poppy from Hogwarts, then Andromeda, Tonks and Narcissa, plus Bill - who had decided to move back to England for a while and was incessantly flirting with Fleur, who was also there – Percy (Charlie had to stay at work), the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team (plus Oliver), Dean and Seamus, Yasmin and Dani, and finally, the new Chief Warlock, Augusta Longbottom.

It was quite the crowd.

Mrs Weasley (who had finally convinced Harry to call her and her husband Molly and Arthur) had cooked up a feast with a few helpers – none of which were Harry who enjoyed cooking with her, because she insisted that he shouldn’t cook on his birthday - and everyone had their fill before she announced that it was time for presents.

Harry mostly got trinkets and books on a wide variety of topics, but by far the best were the last pair which were combined from Yasmin, Dani, Sirius, and Luna – an interesting mix of people – and all wrapped in a bright red paper with gold snitches. He wasn’t surprised that Sirius picked the paper.

The first was an oddly shaped present, almost like a case for a trumpet but in miniature, slightly kinked with one end a little bigger than the other. The paper was ripped away to reveal a case of the same size, made with walnut wood that had gold accents in the form of clasps, hinges and the logo in the corner ‘Flying Marauders’.

Looking up in awe, Harry stared at the pair who had clearly designed whatever was in this case.

Reverently, he pushed his magic into the rune on the front to make it grow to normal size, then clasps to undo them, and pulled up the lid to reveal a ruby red crushed velvet lining that held a smooth, walnut wood broomstick with precisely groomed tail-twigs and a carefully smoothed handle that was just rough enough to give grip when riding and character to the wood.

The footrests were gold with the Flying Marauders logo carved into one and ‘Potter – Seeker’ carved into the other.

It had been exquisitely designed and created in the exact style that Harry loved, and he could feel the magic humming as he ran his hand along it, but what really made it perfect was how flawlessly it fit with his guitar; everything from being walnut wood (his favourite) with gold accents to the replica of Elpis curling her way around the handle, iridescent scales glinting and black eyes blinking.

“Sirius helped us get a design you would like, then me and Yaz put it together.” Dani explained.

“Then I asked Luna to paint on it for you.” Sirius added

Harry launched himself, first at Sirius, then Luna, then Dani and Yasmin.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I love it, it’s amazing! Did Sirius pay for this?”

“Nah kid, this is free advertising.” Dani grinned, “You don’t have to tell people that you’re the investor, but tell people who we are and what we do, okay?”

Harry rolled his eyes good naturedly at being called ‘kid’ but nodded, “Of course, I can’t wait to try it out!”

He had tried a few of the different prototypes while he had been back in England over Easter, and they had all been perfection, easily as good as his firebolt but more specialised for each position, the seeker brooms better for dives, acceleration, and high speeds while the beater and keeper brooms were made for balance and the chaser a mixture of the two.

“Well, our Captain has the best broom in the business and our team is the best we’ve ever had; even without Oliver, I’d say that we have a real chance of winning this year!” Angelina announced to cheers from the rest of the team plus supporters.

Ravenclaw had won the last year for the first time in ten years, but it had been a close thing between them and Gryffindor.

Draco just nodded sadly in the background, wondering if he could persuade his mother to get him one of these brooms for Christmas, just as advertising for his friend’s investment of course, the fact that it would keep them on level with the Gryffindor team was just a bonus.

Harry looked back at the broom case, there was a pocket with some tail clippers, broom oil and an instruction/care manual as well as a list of all the extra enchantments that had been added to the broom.

The second present was an extension of the first, a range of the products that they sold at Flying Marauders including water repelling goggles that fit his glasses prescription, gloves with heating charms built into them to stop his fingers from going numb and a thin suit to wear under robes that would stop any rain getting to his skin and give him a layer of protection from cold.

A little while later, Harry hung his arm around Neville’s shoulders with a happy sigh and announced to him, “Nev, I think we’re pretty lucky with the people we have in our lives. We may not have conventional families, and I’m pretty sure they aren’t quite what either of us grew up wishing for, but they work for us.”

* * *

Eleven days later and they were all back at the Burrow again for another (somewhat smaller) birthday party, this one for Ginny’s fourteenth.

They had all been busy since the last time they had gathered; Hermione and her parents had been on a week-long holiday to France, Narcissa and Draco had taken a trip to Italy so they could swap notes, Luna had gone on a few trips with her father to look for various creatures and Harry had spent his time making training plans for him and his friends as well as having a very important meeting with Robert Greengrass (Daphne’s father) about filling life debt he was owed.

Despite his schedule keeping his busy and nightmares making sure he only just got enough sleep to stay awake during the day, there was a part of Harry that was too relaxed.

Yes, he felt like they were preparing for war and the memories that were replayed time and time again in his head each night told him that Riddle was definitely back, but he hadn’t done anything yet and they were all being lulled into a false sense of security that Harry was sure was going to shattered sooner or later and they had to be prepared.

Following this theme, the present that he gave Ginny for her birthday was very specific to keeping her safe. It was a purple leather jacket with sleeves that went just over the back of the hand and a zip that went right up to the chin.

Harry had bought it from a muggle shop and taking the time to add some features; extendable pockets, a compartment in the sleeve for a wand and charms to protect from mild hexes.

Ginny loved it, refusing to take it off for a week straight.

While at the Burrow for the party, their yearly Hogwarts letters arrived, the magic of post owls knowing that they were all together and not sending them to their separate homes.

Hermione seemed nervous to open them and no one was sure why until something small and hard fell out of the envelop, making her squeal.

“I got prefect!”

It seemed she had been the only one to remember that fifth year brought the choosing of prefects and congratulations were passed around as everyone else began to rip open their own envelopes.

Ginny and Luna were less nervous, as they obviously couldn’t be chosen until next year (not that either really expected to be chosen) and Harry was nearly positive that he wasn’t going to get a badge as he was already Quidditch Captain and the Heads of House tried not to double up unless there was no one else suitable for the role.

In the end, and to the obvious pride of his Grandmother, Neville came out with the other Gryffindor prefect badge - which surprised no one except him – and Draco came out with the Slytherin one; the letter stating that it’s counter part went to Sophie Evans, one of the other Slytherin’s who Harry had made friends with at the beginning of third year.

Ron was glad to be saved the responsibility – he didn’t mind helping out, but he preferred to do it because he wanted to and not because a badge told him to – and he thought that Neville was most deserving, but he was glad that he wasn’t the only one who didn’t have a responsibility.

Plus, he liked spending time with Daphne – not that he would say that anywhere near his brothers who would tease him incessantly.

Luna gave Neville a kiss to congratulate him, much to his disbelief. He turned bright red and began to stammer but the happy smiled stayed for a few seconds before his face suddenly clouded over and he quickly turned away to join in a conversation between Ron and Harry.

The girls took note of Luna’s mild hurt and drew her into first hugs, then their own conversation in an effort to distract her.

* * *

The first of September was to be a Friday that year, which meant the staff had two extra days to keep everyone occupied without wanting tear their hair out before classes had even begun so they turned to Harry for a teenager’s insight and he didn’t disappoint.

He suggested a couple of compulsory defence workshops that would give the students the skills they might need to defend themselves and he even volunteered to plan them which was met by applause from the staff and meant that the two weeks following Ginny’s birthday flew by in a whirl of training plan creating for Harry and lesson plan writing for the Professors.

At a week to go until the start of term, Harry spent the day helping Poppy sort out and stock cupboards in the hospital wing.

They were doing the last job of the day, stocking up potions storage cupboard with medical potions for the year when there was a flash of light and the sound of wrenching coming from the Mediwitch’s office.

Shooting each other a glance then drawing their wands, the pair made their way out of the cupboard and paused, listening. There were no sounds other than wrenching, so Harry quickly opened the door and pointed his wand at the person – which turned out to be two people, both throwing up - in there.

Recognising the pair, Harry sighed, tucked his wand away and grimaced at the sight of the sick that was splattered all over the floor. Poppy raised a confused eyebrow at Harry’s obvious nonchalance at there being unknown people in her office and he waved a hand.

“Poppy, meet my aunt and cousin, Petunia and Dudley Dursley.”

The Mediwitch scowled a little, then her expression cleared, and she made to greet the pair… just as they began to throw up again.

Remembering how nauseating traveling by portkey was, especially to those who had never done it before, Harry waved his wand, first cleaned up the sick then summoning two anti-nausea potions, giving one to each of the new arrivals who looked at them with apprehension.

He rolled his eyes, “This wasn’t all some secret plot to poison you, drink the potions.”

The two drank and, while they were getting their breath back, he sent off two Patronuses - one to his dad and one to Minerva – both with the same message ‘my relatives are here’.

In the time it took Severus to appear from the dungeons and Minerva from her office, Poppy had settled Petunia and Dudley into chairs, as well as fetched them a calming draught each for their obvious shock, and Harry had explained that they were no point in them saying what had happened without the others there, or they’d just have explain it all over again.

Watching closely, Harry saw that what his aunt had told him was true, Dudley was built in the same way as most teenagers their age (albeit with a little more muscle) despite the fact he had weighed at least four times more than Harry only a few years previously.

Not only was he physically changed, the way he was holding himself had too, he was more hunched now; less sure of himself, but also much less angry and his face held clear concern for his mother in a way that Harry had never seen from him before.

Harry introduced everyone once they had arrived, “Aunt Petunia, Dudley, this is Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, Hogwarts Mediwitch Poppy Pomfrey and I believe at you least you, Aunt Petunia know my dad, Severus Snape.”

“I have met your cousin briefly when I went to get them to sign the guardianship papers. He ran away clutching his bottom for some reason.” Severus put on his best intimidation glare as a cover for analysing how different this boy was from when had seen him briefly only a few years before.

Harry held back a small smirk, “Hagrid gave Dudley a pig tail when I first found out I was a wizard because he ate my birthday cake.”

“Ah.” Severus raised an eyebrow, “That would do it.”

Minerva refrained from rolling her eyes as she made sure that everyone had a chair and made herself ready for talking to their visitors, who still hadn’t said a word but were huddled together, the boy – who didn’t look quite how she expected - with his arm around his mother.

“Mrs Dursley, Mr Dursley, would you be able to give me an account of what happened for you to need your portkeys tonight?”

The boy seemed to be assessing if his mother could answer, and when he decided that she couldn’t, he began to explain.

“We were just sat in the living room, watching TV, when the front door got blown in and these three people in black with creepy silver masks came in laughing at us. The one in the middle said that he’d heard how we hated Harry Potter and that he never thought he would have something in common with filthy muggles, Dad started yelling about trespassing and calling the police but the person just laughed then he lifted his stick and a there was a purple light, then Dad was kind of inside out.”

Dudley’s previously fearful face set into a hard line, “He killed Dad then he said that the ‘Dark Lord’, I think he said, wanted to use us to send a message. The other two lifted their sticks and me and mum just looked at each, and we both said the word at the same time and then we were here.”

Petunia began to cry as he finished, and he pulled her closer.

Minerva turned to Severus, “We should go and check the site. You have been there before, take Sirius and Remus.”

A nod and a swish of his cloak and he was gone.

“Poppy, is there anything wrong with them other than shock?”

The Mediwitch shook her head, “Nothing a good night’s sleep won’t cure.”

“Good, thank you. Harry, I know you are arranging somewhere for them to go, but is it ready yet?”

Harry blinked, the question bringing him out of his thoughts about this possibly being the beginning of the war, “No, not for a couple more days, but definitely no more than a week.”

“They can stay here then. I think you should take them. The portrait of the princess at the top of the Grand Staircase has a simple two-bedroom suite behind it which should be good for them to not get lost between their rooms and the important places in the castle. The password is seafoam.”

“I’ll make sure they can call Dobby if they need help.” He gave her a hug, “Thank you. You do a lot of me.”

“Of course, that’s what family is for.”

“Ah yes, the sort of Grandmother.” Petunia spoke shakily for the first time, seeing their fond interactions.

Harry just smirked, “Yup.”

Minerva levelled a glare at him that highlighted the humour in her eyes for just a moment “I’m not going to ask.” She gave him one last squeeze, “For now.”

And with that she left the room, Poppy bustling after her but not before throwing him a smile over her shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know, more birthday fluff, it seems to happen so often! But there are so many characters to write birthday fluff about! And it didn’t take up too much of the chapter. Huh? 2,000 words of a 3,700-word chapter about random birthdays. *nervous laughter* Never mind.  
> So, some of your might be happy I killed Vernon? I just couldn’t not. I feel like I’m really making men into villains now, with Lucius and Vernon following a similar line even if Lucius isn’t dead, but it really isn’t intentional. I’m just not that good a writing, I have comfort zones and I tend to project myself onto characters too much which is why they mostly end up redeemed/good and really like hugs (mushy Hufflepuff here), sorry about that!
> 
> On another note, I think I remember someone wondering in the comments if Harry would be prefect and the answer is no, sorry if that disappoints you. I am still going to have him in a bit of a looking after the lil ones but not for a while and I thought that being a prefect would do wonders for Neville’s confidence!  
> Also it would be nice if you could let me know your thoughts on the little Neville/Luna I’ve introduced, does it come across as a bit forced? Rushed? I might end up editing it, but I’ll let you know at the start of the next chapter if I do.


	4. Set the scene [P4]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look at that guys, it's 2021!  
> I hate it when I try and write something that is supposed to be no more than 2,000 words but comes out at 3,500.  
> Help me :D  
> Unfortunately, that does mean that this chapter doesn’t cover the start of term like it is supposed to, just the end of the holidays, but that’s okay!  
> I’ve actually done a LOT of writing this week, just not for this fic. I’ve finally uploaded one chapter and planned the next few chapters of Hogwarts Youngest Headmaster and I’ve writing ten thousand words or so of a new fic which I’m planning on starting to upload in a little less than a month.  
> A month because I’ve already saved it as a draft and it will disappear in a month, but also because I want to start getting it uploaded!  
> Anyway, I’m going to stop rambling now and leave you to Harry only now realising how weird it is to live in a castle!

Turning to face his aunt and cousin, Harry saw that they were now stood up, although still clinging to one another.

"Come on, it’s getting late and your new place isn’t ready yet, you’ll have to stay here for a few nights.”

Both looked a little terrified at the prospect, but they nodded and followed him out of the room.

“I’ll give you a tour tomorrow, but this is the Hospital Wing which leads out into the Entrance Hall. The Entrance Hall holds the doors to the Great Hall, where we have our meals, and the Grand Staircase, which is where we are going. Oh, and, of course, the door out onto the grounds.”

He waved a hand in each direction as he said it and Petunia and Dudley’s heads both swivelled in sink.

They reached the top of the stairs and the princess portrait, “Most of the doors into private areas are being portraits, this one leads to your rooms for now, and they each have a password. Your password is seafoam.”

The sea-green clad princess curtsied as the door swung open to reveal a living/dining area in whites, silvers, sea blues and sandy creams with comfortable armchairs around a fireplace and a woven, glass topped, dining table with six chairs around it.

There were two doors off the room, each of which led to an identical bedroom with the same colour pallet as the front rooms and high-quality furniture - bed, nightstand, wardrobe, dresser, desk, bookcase - then another door leading into the connected bathroom.

Everything was fairly simple but put together to a high standard that Harry was sure his aunt would appreciate if she were in any state to do so.

“I think you should go to bed, Aunt Petunia, I can explain to Dudley what is going on tonight, and he can relay it to you in the morning.”

She nodded shakily, “I have no night things or toiletries.”

“Dobby.” He called softly, much to their confusion, then shock when the small, and rather eccentric, elf appeared.

“What can I do for Master Harry, Sir?”

“Hey Dobby. This is my Aunt Petunia and Cousin Dudley, they’re going to be staying here for a little while, but they have no belongings and can’t do magic, so they are going to need some help, please do whatever they ask you to.”

Dobby nodded vigorously and Harry turned to his relatives, “This is what we call a house-elf, they are effectively servants, but they enjoy the work. This is my Dad’s elf, Dobby and he will help you with whatever you need, so if you need food or drink, or if you are lost, or if you need some other items or clothing, Dobby can get it for you, you just need to call him.”

Looking slightly terrified, Dudley nodded, “Nice to meet you, Dobby.”

“Dobby is glad to be serving anyone Master Harry wishes him to.”

“Thank you Dobby, can you please get some sleep things for my aunt and cousin, and put them on their beds, some basic toiletries in the bathrooms and some muggle clothing in the wardrobes.”

“Dobby can be doing this for Master Harry, Sir.” And he disappeared with a crack.

“It takes some getting used to.” He said, noting his cousin’s flinch, “But they should be in your rooms now, if you want to sort out your mum, I’ll wait out here for you.”

Dudley nodded, “Thank you, Harry.”

While he was waiting, Harry lit the fire and called for some hot butterbeer, thinking that now was a good a time as any for Dudley to try some. He passed the time talking to Elpis about what he was going to say.

He didn’t have to wait long, his cousin appeared only ten minutes later, sitting down on the opposite armchair then starting a little when he saw the snake.

“This is my familiar, Elpis.” He said by way of explanation, “I can talk to snakes, so it made sense when she chose me.”

“She chose you? What do you mean you can talk to them? What is she? I don’t recognise the variety.”

“Yes, familiars choose each other, she chose me when I went to a pet shop two years ago. I can speak snake language, it’s called parseltongue here, it’s very rare _and it sounds like this_.” He slipped into the ancient language.

Dudley started and Harry chuckled, “You’re not the only one who finds it weird. Anyway, you won’t recognise her because she is a magical variety of snake, they can teleport, so they don’t ever get found by muggles – that’s none-magical people. I will tell you more another if you want to know, but I’m sure you want to get to bed pretty soon. Here.”

He handed him the drink, “Butterbeer, it’s a nice drink that’s popular here. If you don’t like it then I can get you something else.”

After sniffing it hesitantly, Dudley took a sip, considered it for a moment, then nodded, “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

They sat in silence for a few seconds until Harry spoke up quietly, “I’m sorry about your dad.”

“Don’t be. He hasn’t treated us as badly as he did you, but it’s become a close thing these past few years. He’s been treating Mum like shit, wasting money, making her get a job so he can sit around all day and support his drinking habits. I had to get one and keep it a secret from him so we could even afford to buy food.”

The words had been coming out in a rush, but he suddenly stopped as if he realised what he was saying, and Harry understood what his aunt had meant when she said his cousin could benefit from therapy. He made up his mind to talk to Petunia the next day about him covering the counselling fees, possibly for both of them.

He nodded wordlessly, “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Now, about where you’re going to live. I called in a favour and got you a five-bedroom condo in New York to live in with high security and muggle appliances. It’s bigger than you need but he didn’t have anything smaller and it will work.”

Dudley gaped, “What have you been doing that gets you favours like that?” 

“Urm,” Harry scratched his head, “I saved his daughter from almost certain death?”

“Ok…? Is that normal here?”

“It’s fairly normal for me.” He sighed, “It’s complicated. Anyway, I have an agreement that you will get the condo until six months after the end of the war. That six months will give you time to find somewhere else to live, whether you want to stay in New York, move back to England or to another place entirely.”

“But you don’t know how long the war will last?”

“Sorry.” He shook his head, “It could be six months, or it could be ten years.”

“You’ll keep us updated?”

“Of course. I’m not sure it’s safe for us to send letter which could be intercepted but I’ll figure something out by the time you leave for New York.”

Dudley nodded, “Do you know when that will be?”

“No more than a week; the students will be here this time next week and you don’t want to be here when they are. You can’t go yet because it was magical dwelling, and we have no need for muggle appliances, so it wasn’t fitted out. Don’t worry, all of that is covered by my friend.”

“I don’t want to ask more of you.” Dudley fidgeted awkwardly, “But I’m not sure we have the money to cover new things for us, unless you can recover anything from our house?”

“I’m sorry but the chances are that they will have burnt it down, that’s what they usually did last war. But if anything can be recovered my Dad and Uncles will bring it. As for money, I can give you enough to sort yourselves out. I’m sorry that you’ll have to change school before your GCSEs, but they have a different system in America. If you like I can get you the materials and you can work towards taking GCSE’s as well and then A levels?”

“Thank you.” He nodded.

“Of course.”

There was a pause, then Dudley made to ask a question before closing his mouth again but Harry encouraged him.

“Why are you doing this?”

Harry turned his gaze from the crackling fire to look his cousin in the eye, “Because I don’t want anyone to die because of me. We haven’t got on well in the past, but I don’t want you dead. I don’t think you deserve death.” He winced slightly, “However much some of my friends and family think you do.”

Dudley fidgeted, “They know then? What it was like growing up with us. What it was like that summer.”

“Yes. The whole wizarding population of England, and a lot of France as well, as seen as I was there at the time, knows that something happened, it was leaked to a newspaper this past Christmas, but my closer friends and family know more details.”

Dudley shook his head, he looked like he wanted to ask why Harry had been in France, but decided to stay on topic instead, “You didn’t deserve that.”

“No one deserves that.” Harry pointed out.

“You’re right. We put you through so much, I put you through so much, and now you’re doing all this to help us, just because you don’t want us to die when my dad happily beat you for a whole summer and I bullied you for eleven years.” Harry flinched at the reminder.

“But it wasn’t until I went through a little of that myself that I realised exactly what I did to you. I made your life hell; no friends, no good grades, nothing to live for.” He trailed off, staring into the flames, “I’ve felt enough of that myself now to know what’s it’s like, what I did. Which is why you can know how genuine how I am being when I say I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It’s no excuse but I didn’t know what I was doing, I was stupid and believed what my dad told me. Can you forgive me?”

It was really unbelievable the parallel stories between Dudley and Draco.

Harry sighed, “Dudley, I’m sorry that you had to go through what you did in the last few years, both with the little your mum told me about what happened at school and with your dad. You didn’t know what you were doing when we were kids, and I understand that. I forgive you and, in many ways, you’re the easiest to forgive, because I know that hearing the same thing over and over for years can make you believe it. I believed that I was freak as much as you did, but it’s going to take a while before we can have any sort of proper relationship, even if we do keep in touch.”

Dudley nodded, “I would like to stay in touch. And thank you, I’m glad you’ve forgiven me, even if I haven’t quite forgiven myself yet. I promise I’ll do what needs to be done to help us grow, show you that you can count on me.”

Standing up hesitantly, the two shared a manly handshake.

“Thank you again.” Dudley made for the door to his room, “I don’t know where we would be without you.”

* * *

The next morning – after a very restless night of sleep - Harry made his way up to where his aunt and cousin were staying, ready to help them find their way to the Great Hall breakfast.

Knocking on the wall next to the portrait door (try knocking on the portrait and see if they let you though ever again) to let them know he was there, he said the password and walked through the door after a smile of thanks to the portrait.

“Morning, Dudley.” He waved a small greeting.

“Hi Harry.” Dudley stood up from where he was sat on the sofa, reading a book on dragons.

“Sleep well?”

“As well as you can in a strange place. You?”

“As well as I ever do.” He shrugged, “But I won’t dispute you about this being a strange place. It’s home though.”

“So, you live here all year round?”

“Yeah. My adoptive Dad works here, and we stay over the summer with some of the other staff who don’t have families to go home to. I live in the dormitories during term, but I have a bedroom in my Dad’s quarters for the holidays.”

“Does it not get boring, living at school?”

“Dud, I live in a castle! A magic castle at that. Life is never boring. Plus, my friends can floo in anytime.”

“Floo?”

“Ah, a form of magical transportation, I’ll explain at breakfast. Is Aunt Petunia coming?”

“I’ll go and check.”

As Dudley strode over to the closed bedroom door, Elpis popped her head out of his sleeve.

“ _He doesn’t seem to like the idea of magic as much as most.”_

 _“No.”_ Harry agreed, “ _But it’s just how he was brought up. He’s still scared now, then he will find it as fascinating as I do; we have a week to change his mind.”_

She gave a snaky snicker as Dudley appeared with his mum in toe, looking a little worse for wear as if she hadn’t slept much – which she probably hadn’t.

“Morning, Aunt Petunia.”

“Good morning.” She answered softly.

“My Dad and my two Uncles went to your house last night. I’m sorry but it was burnt down to the ground, they couldn’t recover anything.”

“No belongings and no money to buy them.” She sighed.

“Don’t worry about that. The condo comes with a start-up bonus. It will enough for you to get set up with new things.”

“Dudley explained about the condo. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He shifted awkwardly for a moment, “Would you like to go down to breakfast?”

They walked the short distance to the Great Hall, Dudley and Petunia so distracted by looking at everything that they nearly fell down the stairs, and then stopped for them to get a good look at the ceiling of the hall.

“It’s charmed to reflect the weather outside. Useful to know condition for Quidditch.”

“Quidditch?” Dudley asked, curious.

Harry thought for a minute, “Think basketball on flying broomsticks but with three hoops and three different types of ball. I can explain better later if you like. I don’t think broomsticks would work for you, as I think you need magic, but a hippogriff ride would get you in the air, Buckbeak loves to carry people.”

Dudley just looked confused and Harry couldn’t help but laugh, reminded of how he felt when Quidditch was first explained to him.

“Come on, let’s get some breakfast and then I can give you a tour.”

The staff who stayed over the summer, plus the Heads of House who had been back for two weeks (the rest of the staff were due to arrive later that day) were already sat at the table and Harry introduced them.

“You know my Dad, Severus Snape. This is my Godfather, Sirius Black and my honorary Uncle Remus Lupin who you have probably met in the past but not for a while.”

They gave stiff nods in greeting, not quite sure how they were supposed to react to the family who abused their son/cub/pup for years.

“You’ve met Minerva McGonagall, or Grandmother Minnie.”

She gave him a fond but exasperated look and he grinned cheekily.

“And you met Poppy Pomfrey yesterday. Then this is Filius Flitwick and Pomona Sprout. Everyone, this is my Cousin Dudley and Aunt Petunia. My Mother’s sister and nephew.”

Once the greetings were done, there was an awkward silence while everyone filled their plates with food.

Harry rolled his eyes, “Play nice children.” He knew full well that Minerva had told everyone why two thirds of the Dursley family was here, and why the other third was not, which was the only stopping everyone from being opening hostile.

But after making a single comment, he drew his cousin into a conversation about the floo, while his aunt asked Severus about some potions that she had seen Lily making over the years and eventually the atmosphere was back to – almost - normal.

After breakfast was a tour of the castle, showing all of the interesting bits, like the Omnis room, the Room of Requirement, the impressive view of the ground from the astronomy tower and down to the kitchens for a visit to the House Elves.

On their way up, they were met by a small stampede of teenagers, led by who Harry fondly referred to as Red Bullet.

“Harry!” she launched and koalaed around him.

“Hey Gin, you alright?”

“Yeah.” She nodded significantly at the two people stood behind him, “Are you?”

“They’ve changed for the better.” He murmured into her hair, “I’m glad they’re safe.”

She gave him a small smile and one last squeeze before putting her feet back on the ground and letting him greet everyone else, although she did keep her hand firmly in his.

“Hey guys, sorry I didn’t come and meet you out the floo.” He greeted them with hugs and bows, “We got caught up talking to the House-elves. This is my Aunt Petunia and my Cousin Dudley. He’s just over a month older than me. Aunt Petunia, you’ve met Hermione, then this is Neville, Draco, Luna, Daphne, Ron, and my girlfriend, Ginny.”

He pointed at each one as he said their names, and they waved and smiled with varying levels of enthusiasm; but they were trying, and Harry was grateful for it.

When he introduced Ginny, she stepped out from where she had been stood a little behind him - so that she could still hold his hand but wasn’t in the way - and Petunia gasped.

Harry was as confused as Ginny; they looked at either other in bewilderment, but Hermione stepped forwards with an answer, as she often did.

“You really do look quite a bit like your parents, Harry.” She pointed out softly, “There are differences of course, and your eyes are the wrong way around, but it is remarkable.”

“They were a happy couple. I did actually go to the wedding, although no one knows I was there, I just stayed for the ceremony. She looked so happy.” She sniffed a little.

“I think that my Mum would have loved to know you were there.”

The tour continued out onto the grounds; down to the Quidditch pitch (plus a quick demonstration), around the lake and into the forest where they found many creatures – the most uncomfortable point being when they came across a heard of Thestrals and had to explain what they were to Dudley and Petunia, who could see them.

But the day ended on a good note when Dudley got – and absolutely loved - his promised Hippogriff ride.

The week flew by in final preparations for the start of the school term and magical explanations and demonstrations and before Harry knew it, it was the afternoon of the thirty-first of August and they were ready to wave his aunt and cousin off to America.

“I have a few things for you, before you go.” He passed his aunt an envelope, “This is a debit card, for an American bank, all the details you need are inside, but it’ll be easier for you to not be transferring from England for however long you’re there. I’m still getting the paperwork to transfer the money you had in your account, but I’ve put enough in that account to get your started, plus enough will go in monthly to cover therapy for both of you.”

Petunia smiled in thanks and Harry handed a silver box - the dimensions of a A4 piece of paper but five inches deep with runes carved into it - to his cousin.

“This is a postal box. They’re pretty rare, but it’s for frequent communication over long distances. Actually, this one is even more rare because it’s only magical at one end. I have a box that’s identical in dimensions, but it has extra runes on the top which means I can pull whatever is in your box into mine and vice versa. As long as it can fit in the box, it can be sent.”

Dudley grinned; he had become fascinated by the idea of runes over the last week.

“We can send letter and small parcels, I’ll send any paper-work to do with bank transfers, property transfers or anything to do with Uncle Vernon through here for you to sort and send back. Oh, and I’ll send that school-work you wanted, Dud.” He added, trying to distract from the mention – however necessary – of his Uncle.

“Thanks Harry!”

“The condo is fully stocked so you won’t need to go shopping for a while. Remember that they list tax separately in America, and good luck!”

“Good luck to you too, Harry. Thank you.” His aunt gave him a grateful nod and he smiled in return then stepped forwards to shake his cousins hand.

“I hope you do better by starting again, Dud.”

“I hope so too, Harry. And thank you for everything.”

They broke apart and, with a flash of light, his last blood relatives were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Koalaed is a word now :)


	5. In a moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that there was nothing last week guys!  
> I had a lot of trouble working out where I wanted to go with this chapter, and I was caught up in writing Hogwarts Youngest Headmaster (new chapter next weekend if anyone here cares) and my new fic. I know, writing three at once is a recipe for disaster but here we are.  
> Anyway, I’m glad I waited the week as it gave me the time I needed and I like this chapter now, even if it didn’t go how I expected.  
> Enjoy!

On the morning of the first of September, Harry met his friends on the Hogwarts Express for the journey back to school.

Hermione, Draco, and Neville all stowed their trunks in a compartment with everyone else, then went off to their Prefect meeting. Draco appeared half an hour later, saying that Hermione and Neville had taken the first patrol shift and he would be going with Sophie when they came back.

The journey had a slightly different atmosphere than usually. At first, Harry thought it was because they were going to back to school during a war – there had been two reported muggle attacks since the one on his relatives just over a week ago – but no one had really taken it in yet, the idea that yes, they were heading into a war, a war that had already begun.

Eventually, not even Harry could be ignorant to the uncomfortable shifting that Neville was doing and the unhappy look on Luna’s face as she stared out of the window or spoke quietly in a way that was less dreamy and more defeated than her usual self.

He noticed the knowing but concerned exchanged glances between Ginny, Hermione, and Daphne, but neither he nor Ron seemed to know what was going on, and Neville spent the entire ride with his nose glued to his book, although it did not escape Harry’s attention that he spent a lot of that time staring at a single spot on one page.

Every time he went to say something, he got a look of Hermione or Ginny and swallowed his question up, instead following on from their lead in trying to keep the conversation light while resolving to ask his girlfriend what was going on when they got to Hogwarts.

Despite the slight atmosphere, the long journey was not unenjoyable, and they found themselves feasting in the Great Hall before long, with Neville beginning to act more like his usual self without Luna there.

Sending another confused look at Ginny, she signalled that they would get talk to him, big sister style (which was still a thing even though Ginny was younger than him?) rather than him trying to talk to him friend style.

Shrugging lightly, he turned his attention to Professor Flitwick, who was leading the first years – looking especially tiny – to line up in front of the Sorting Hat and his stool.

When the Sorting had been completed and the feast demolished, Professor McGonagall stood for her first start-of-year-speech.

“Welcome everyone to another year at Hogwarts. There have been several staffing changes this year, the most obvious of them being my own appointment as Headmistress, replacing Albus Dumbledore.” She bowed her head respectfully for a moment before continuing, “Taking over my position as Transfiguration Professor is the familiar face of Sirius Black, while Auror Tonks is on loan to us from the DMLE to help out in Defence Against the Dark Arts during the full moon; please make them welcome.”

They both stood and gave a grin as she motioned to them, gathering a little applause from the students (especially Harry, got a special grin as Tonks had been implying that she had a surprise up her sleeve).

“Professors Lupin and Black are going to be joint Heads of Gryffindor, they will make it known to you where they offices are for if you need them, while Professor Vector has taken over the role of Deputy Headmistress.” She gave a moment for the noise to settle before continuing.

“As always, the Forest is out of bounds, and a list of banned items can be found on the door of Mr Flich’s office as well as on notice boards in each of the Common Rooms. That is where information about Hogsmeade weekends - for those with permission forms - and clubs will be, your prefects will point them out to you. Quidditch Captains,” All of Gryffindor stared at Harry, who grinned and cringed slightly at the same time.

“Please talk to your Heads of House about reserving the pitch for try-outs. You will all get your timetables tomorrow morning. Breakfast will be compulsory tomorrow, be here for eight sharp. As you have two days of weekend before school, and in the light of the recent return of Voldemort, we are taking the opportunity to run Defence workshops.”

Muttering sprung up around the room, some people mumbling excitedly, some annoyed because they wanted a lie-in, others upset at the Headmistress’ use of Riddle’s not-name and other’s surprised that she was so openly going against the Minister, who was trying to deny that Riddle was back, even though most people accepted that he was, given how many witnesses there were to him at Beauxbatons with Harry.

Holding up a hand for silence, Minerva stood as the noise stopped, “There will be two workshops tomorrow, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. First through fifth years will be split in half by year, Hufflepuffs with Gryffindors and Slytherins with Ravenclaws, each group with a different member of staff. Six and seventh years will remain in here. It is important you are at breakfast so that you know who you are going to be with. Sunday will be more workshops, but these will be optional and you will be split differently, depending on how many of you come.”

Harry was exhausted when they finally made their way up the Gryffindor Tower. It was only about nine o’clock, but he was contemplating just giving up and going to bed as he and Ron watched Ginny and Hermione drag Neville over to a corner of the room.

“Any clue what they’re up to?”

Ron thought for a minute before his face was suddenly a picture of realisation and snickered slightly, “Girl trouble.” He turned serious for a moment, “Luna likes Neville. Neville likes Luna. But Neville doesn’t think he’s good enough.”

Harry looked at him, surprised, when had his friend become so perceptive? He hadn’t noticed what was going on between the two and he wasn’t _completely_ oblivious.

“ _Yes, you are.”_ Elpis told him helpful from his pocket when he accidentally projected this thought to her.

Knowing that she was mostly joking, he just tutted lightly, scratched his familiar’s head affectionately, and snorted in response to Ron, “Hell, do any of us guys not have insecurity issues?”

It wasn’t really a question, but Ron shrugged his answer anyway, “Youngest boy of seven who doesn’t have anything special about him, two single children who grew up with the expectations of their parents piled on them and just everything that happened with your loving relatives.” It wasn’t very often that Ron used sarcasm, “I’m surprised that we aren’t worse than we are.”

“Hmm.” He mummed in thought, knowing his friend well enough to understand that telling him he was wrong about not being special would not convince him, “We should probably talk to someone.”

“Who?”

“A therapist?”

“What’s that?”

“Huh. Magicals don’t have them?” Harry led the way from where they had been standing by the stairs to a pair of armchairs – they favourite armchairs – by the fire.

“Maybe we do, and they are just called something different; we have Aurors and you have those Polly-people. What is it?”

“Police. And you might be right. A therapist is someone who is qualified to help you through your problems, or trauma or whatever, you have a couple of session with them and talk about stuff. They’re getting increasingly common in the muggle world.”

Frowning, Ron shook his head, “Doesn’t sound like something I have heard of. Unless people just don’t talk about it?”

“A possibility. Some people don’t like to talk about having therapy because they see it as a sign of weakness, or think that other people will think they are mentally unstable. My Aunt used to say that, but clearly she’s changed her mind as she’s being trying to get Dudley to talk to someone for the last year.” He shrugged, “Some people are proud of the fact they go to therapy, because it means they are making an effort to get the help they need and improve their mental state.”

Ron looked thoughtful, “I could see how it would be beneficial, being a teenager isn’t easy at the best of times, but when you add in extra stuff, like a murdering madman, or pressure to succeed, or a _war,_ then I guess that you can suddenly go from just coping to really not overnight.”

Harry sighed, seeing the gentle probe for what it was.

He still wasn’t sleeping well, his nights plagued with nightmares of memories - always the same memories – and constantly getting not quite enough sleep was taking its toll.

Regularly, he caught one or other of his friends casting concerned glances as he yawned with bags under his eyes, but it hadn’t quite got the point where any of them would saying anything outright yet.

He couldn’t exactly get annoyed, he would have the done the same if it had been any of the others in their group, but sometimes he preferred people being direct. Even if Ron had gained a lot of subtly in the four years that they had known each other.

“Ron, how about I promise you that if I need any help, I will ask?”

Not bothering to pretend that he didn’t know what they were talking about, Ron shook his head, “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that.” He lifted a hand to stop Harry protesting, “Mate, can you name one time that you have ever actually go to someone for help? Without someone forcing you to?”

Harry opened and closed his mouth a few times before glancing down and shaking his head.

“You’re not good at it, which is not your fault, it’s how you’ve spent more of your life, but that doesn’t change the fact that you won’t tell anyone until you have to, which is usually a long way past when you should. You don’t share your life with others easily, it doesn’t matter how big your odd little family becomes, or how many friends you have, you still won’t tell them when you need something. You didn’t even tell anyone when your Uncle…” he abruptly cut himself off and took a deep breath.

“You don’t blame yourself for that, do you? It wasn’t your fault any more than it was mine.”

Ron gave a wry smile, “But I know full than that a small part of you still blames yourself, just as a part of me blames myself, and a part of Hermione blames herself. We were supposed to be your friends, and yet we didn’t notice that you were carrying around a broken hand for a whole term?”

“I guess I was just lucky in hiding it.”

“That’s something that I don’t understand.” Ron shifted closer towards the fire and continued at Harry’s apprehensively raised questioning eyebrow, “I might just be arrogant, or ignorant, but why not tell someone? Why not try to get out?”

Harry pulled a cushion close to his chest and let out a soft sigh, “You forget that, although it got significantly worse that summer, the Dursley’s never treated me well, and they punished me if I let on to anyone that they were treating me badly, so it was in my best interests to hide it. I had to weight up the options, tell someone, have an investigation that may not get me away from them and would guarantee that they would punish me, or stay silent and try to keep out of the way. Telling someone is the rocking the boat, and when you’re on a battered boat that one big wave could sink, it’s a really bad choice to rock. You feel like you could drown at any moment.”

Ron was silent for a moment, considering this, “But why did you think that an investigation would not go in your favour?”

“Two reasons. One, it’s happened before; I’ve seen just how easily my Uncle can lie his way out of that particular situation. And two, because Dumbledore had told me only weeks before that I couldn’t leave them, that I needed to stay there, so I thought he would ignore me or take any opportunity to say I was lying, and I would be back to square one. Or minus numbers because I would be in big trouble with my relatives.”

“I guess it’s always easier to say you would never let that happen to you if you haven’t been through it.” Ron sighed.

“Hence the other reason you don’t tell. Especially here in the wizarding world, being under the control of a muggle makes you look weak. It doesn’t matter than my Uncle is four times as big as me and I don’t think that anyone I know could beat him in a fist fight, it still makes me feel weak.”

“I don’t think you’re weak, and neither does anyone else.”

“You don’t know that, Ron! I wasn’t here when the news broke last Christmas, I couldn’t tell you what people were saying about it, but you wouldn’t have heard everything either.”

“You’re right.” He kept his voice level and calm, “But it doesn’t matter what everyone else was saying. Strangers don’t matter.”

Harry nodded, letting out a shaky breath, “I just hate the idea of people talking about me.”

“I know you do; you always have.” He sent a sympathetic look, “But the newspapers aren’t going to just stop writing about you, people aren’t just going to stop talking about you, especially if you have as big a role in this war as it seems you are going to have. I think you’re going to have to find a way to just get used to it.”

“I guess so.” He sighed, then stood up, “Come on, we’ve got a day of defence training tomorrow, we might as well go to bed.”

“I proud of you for talking about it so openly, you know.”

He threw Ron a tired smile as they made their way up the stairs, “It’s a working progress.”

* * *

Neville rubbed his sweaty hands down his robes as he followed Ginny and Hermione into a corner of the room.

He had a healthy respect, bordering on slight fear, for both of them as Ginny’s bat-bogey-hex had become renowned after a few comments about the Christmas newspaper article back in January – not that Harry had ever found that out - and Hermione because she already knew more spells that Neville was sure he would ever know.

Ginny had her hands on her hips and a slight frown on her face, while Hermione looked a little more concerned. It reminded him of something that Hermione had told him about, months ago: good cop, bad cop.

“Is, is everything okay?”

“We were going to ask you the same thing, actually Neville.” Hermione assured them all into seats.

“Yeah, you’ve been acting weird since my birthday, that’s up with that?” they might have their suspicions, but it was good to get him to say it first.

“Have I?”

“Yup.” Ginny popped the p, “Uncomfortable, awkward.”

“Dare I say avoiding someone?” Hermione added, raising a soft eyebrow.

Neville gulped, “Not avoiding anyone.”

“Really? Because you usually mirror-call Luna every few days at least, and you haven’t had a proper conversation with her since my birthday. We know you haven’t, cuz we’re her friends and she talks to us.”

“She enjoys talking to you Neville. She was miserable the whole journey here because you’ve been ignoring her, she thinks you hate her now.”

“I don’t hate her!” he answered quickly, “I think she’s amazing! And beautiful.”

He cringed slightly as his two friends exchanged a smirk. Why did he have to go and say _that_? He wasn’t going to make his point by being overly truthful.

“So what’s with the weird stuff?”

Trying to find something to say, he flopped his mouth open and closed a few times, but nothing came out.

“Come on Nev!” Ginny exclaimed, prompting a sudden answer.

“She kissed me!” he blurted, blushing high up his face.

“I’m glad that you noticed!” Ginny burst out, huffing slightly when Hermione shot her a warning look.

“Why is that a problem? If you don’t think of her in that way then you should just tell her, not ignore her and make her feel horrible.”

“But I don’t, I mean, I do! No! I didn’t mean to make her feel bad, I don’t want her to feel bad, but…” he trailed off, staring at the floor.

“Yes?” Hermione prompted.

“Why would she want to be with me?” he spoke so quietly that it was almost a whisper, spoken straight to the floor.

Ginny exchanged a long look with Hermione before sliding down onto the floor, the slightly mischievous glint from her eye gone.

“Well, you’d have to ask Luna, but she clearly does, or she wouldn’t have kissed you.”

“Maybe she just made a mistake? Maybe it was just a spur of the moment thing and she regrets it now? Maybe she was taking a potion that was messing with her?!”

“Why do you think she wouldn’t want you?” Hermione asked, moving on from his outburst, with a look that held and odd mix of concern, sympathy, and resignation.

“I’m not good enough for her.” He was back to whispering to the floor, “She’s caring, and intelligent, and perfect. And I’m just… me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Neville. You’re amazing, definitely good enough for her.”

“Don’t joke about this.” he looked up, anger, self-loathing, and a little despair dancing in his eyes as his mood shifted once again, “Of course I’m not. Good enough? What a joke! I’m barely magical! I can only just do the most basic magic, and nothing ever works how it should. I’m supposed to be the next Lord Longbottom! That’s a joke in itself. A squib who can’t defend himself and can’t live up an any legacy.”

He buried his face in his hands and so didn’t notice Hermione putting a quick silencing charm up around her and Ginny.

“I didn’t realise this was the problem.” She ran her hand through coppery hair, “I thought he was just getting awkward over kiss.”

Hermione sighed, “I thought the same. We aren’t going to be able to convince him otherwise, there’s only one person who can do that.”

“Luna.”

“Right. We have to get him to talk to her.”

Ginny huffed slightly, trying to ignore the tears that were just prickling at her eyes, “And while we’re at it we can get some self-worth boosting potion from somewhere.”

“If only.” Hermione waved her wand quickly to dispel the silencing charm before crouching down by her friend.

“Neville, I don’t believe that and neither does Ginny.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter what your Grandmother says, you are not a squib and you will make your parents proud.”

He lifted his face, his shoulders tight, “You don’t really believe that.”

“We do.” Ginny insisted.

“You don’t have to believe us just now, but please go and talk to Luna. Tell her why you reacted how you did and why you don’t want to be in that kind of relationship with her.”

Ginny shot her a confused look, but Hermione shook her head minutely.

Neville sat for a full minute before his shoulders suddenly slumped and he nodded, “Okay. She deserves that at least. I’ll talk to her tomorrow. Thanks for this, guys, I don’t want her to feel bad, it’s not her fault. But I’m going to go up now, goodnight.”

Waiting until he was gone, Ginny turned to Hermione.

“Why did you tell him to tell Luna he doesn’t want to be his girlfriend? Isn’t that the opposite of what we wanted him to do?”

“At the end of the day it is up to him, but no. What is going to happen is Neville is going to tell Luna what he just told us, about him not being good enough. If we don’t believe it then do you think that Luna is ever going to stand for him telling himself that?”

The mischievous glint was back in the red-head’s eye, “No way in hell.”

“Precisely. Luna is a self-worth boosting potion if ever there was one. The first step on a road where he learns not to believe everything that Augusta Longbottom tells him.” she frowned slightly, “We should have noticed that this was a problem. The way he smiled then suddenly stopped when she kissed him, he wasn’t awkward, he was purposefully holding himself back.”

“Hmm, we should have, but there’s no use beating ourselves up now, it’s done. Luna and Neville are good for each other, they’ll be able to help each other in a way that none of us can.” She smiled playfully, “Next mission is getting Ron and Daphne to admit they like each other.”

Hermione rolled her eyes good-naturedly and began to walk up the stairs to their dorms, “You really think they like each other?”

“Nobody spends that much time together without being a couple!”

“They could just be friends, you know, good friends. Like Luna and Harry or me and you.”

“They share a hobby! Photography! Sharing a hobby is a couple’s thing.” She laughed happily, “And besides, you and I are sisters not friends.”

“Do you think we’re going to be sisters-in-law?” Hermione asked carefully.

Shrugging contentedly, Ginny replied, “I can see a point in the future that it’s a distinct possibility. I would like to think it’s not just me being naive.”

She hooked her arm through Ginny’s, “I would love to be your sister.”

With a final grin and hug, they parted ways for their first night back for their respective fourth and fifth years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can’t have a chapter without some fluff!  
> Disclaimer that I do not (thankfully, I am forever grateful) have first-hand knowledge of abuse, so my apologies if what I have written is not accurate.  
> I’m not sure I would have been able to write about something I had experience in anyway. I’ve considered writing about EDs in my fics, which is something that I have a personal experience with but honestly that just sends me spiralling so maybe in the future. I would guess that I would think writing about a personal experience of abuse would be similar to writing about EDs (for me). Not sure why I can write about depression and anxiety and not EDs but one step at a time, I guess that most people struggle with at least some depression or anxiety at some point, less so (although sadly increasingly common) with EDs. Point being… actually I don’t know what my point was.  
> I hadn’t planned the conversation between Ron and Harry, but I actually love it, so I hope you guys do.  
> If anyone is wondering, it was purposeful how Ron worked out why Neville rejected Luna, but the girls didn’t. He’s more perceptive than in canon!  
> There’s a part of me that thinks it’s unrealistic for Harry and Ron to talk about insecurities, but I feel like it’s a 21st century way of doing things (yes, I’m aware that this is actual set in the 20th century) that’s kinda joking, kinda serious, kinda we know that we’re all messed up, ya know?  
> Anyways, hopefully next week I will actually be on time :)


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